Climate Change Institute

“Forever chemicals” used in water-repellant outdoor gear have been found in snow from the top of Mount Everest. Kimberley Miner says these human-made per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — which have been linked to birth defects, high cholesterol and increased risk of kidney and testicular cancer — could eventually pose a risk for trekkers, climbers […]

Paul Mayewski and Mariusz Potocki are included in the Eos story “An Ice Core from the Roof of the World” about the 2019 National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Everest Expedition. Mayewski, director of the Climate Change Institute, was the expedition leader and lead scientist. Potocki, a Ph.D. candidate, collected the highest ice core in […]

The Bangor Daily News, Eurekalert and Phys.org picked up a University of Maine news release about a collaborative study which concluded that 447 species of trees and shrubs are growing in less than 50% of their suitable North American ranges. The study, which was published in the Journal of Biogeography, suggests that soils, other plants […]

Forecasts predicting where plants and animals will inhabit over time rely primarily on information about their current climate associations, but that only plays a partial role. Under climate change, there’s a growing interest in assessing whether trees and other species can keep pace with changing temperatures and rainfall, shifting where they are found, also known […]

An innovative National Geographic expedition collected the world’s highest ice core from Mount Everest. Mariusz Potocki (center with orange goggles) and the National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Everest Expedition team collect the highest ever recorded ice core sample at the South Col Glacier. Credit: Dirk Collins, National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Everest Expedition, […]

The Bangor Daily News talked with Cindy Isenhour, a University of Maine associate professor of anthropology, about recycling wrapping paper and repurposing other materials to wrap gifts.

Public News Service cited Ivan Fernandez, professor of soil science and forest resources, in a story about the state’s new climate action plan. Fernandez, a cooperating professor with UMaine’s Climate Change Institute, co-chairs the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the Maine Climate Council.

The Maine Climate Council released its four-year plan for climate action Tuesday, the same day 60-mph wind gusts were battering the state. As Council member Ivan Fernandez remarked during the public release of the report that the five hottest years in Earth’s recorded history were the last five, the temperature in a number of communities […]

For the second consecutive year, University of Maine professor of biological sciences Brian McGill, whose research focuses on modeling large-scale ecology and global change, has been named one of the most cited researchers worldwide, according to Clarivate. The company’s 2020 Highly Cited Researchers list identifies researchers who produced multiple scientific papers ranking in the top […]